The Sabbat
by Finmonster
Summary: When the Guardians defeated Pitch Black, they thought that had been the end of it. Instead, it was the beginning. Something dark and terrifying from the past has reared its ugly head. Now, the Guardians must recruit a new member and decide if the New Ways will hold or if the Old ones will come back with a vengeance.
1. You Better Watch Out

**The Sabbat**

 **Chapter 1: You Better Watch Out**

The glimmering images of the Northern Lights danced through the clear night sky that hung over the North Pole. Deep within the Arctic wastes, a mountain stood tall and proud over the surrounding tundra, the Northern Lights shining so brightly above it that it almost seemed as though they were emanating from the mountain's peak. For a few moments, the majestic stillness of the scene was only broken by the howling winds that kicked up small clouds of snow and carried them into the night.

Suddenly, a loud, joyful laugh echoed up from the valley below the mountain as the winds picked up speed, tossing snow flakes into the air in a flurry of ice and air. At the center of the sudden tempest, a young man flew, seemingly held aloft by the buffeting winds. The young man couldn't have been fully out of his teenaged years, with pale skin that seemed to glow in the moonlight and a slim physique. His hair was a short shock of white that danced on the wind and his icy blue eyes sparkled with mischief. He wore a light blue hooded sweatshirt and a pair of brown slacks, though his pale feet were bare. A staff with a bend at the end like a shepherd's crook was clutched tightly in his hand.

The young man continued to laugh as he flew down to the mountain before entering a cave that dug deep into frozen stone. The cave quickly transformed into a tunnel made mostly out ice that led into the very heart of the mountain. Shooting down the tunnel, the young man landed and slid across the frozen floor, coming to a halt at the tunnel's end.

The tunnel terminated in a large chamber that was furnished in order to use is as a stable. Most of the chamber were taken up by a long series of wooden stalls set against one of the walls. In the other corner of the room, a large sleigh sat, looking like a mix between a traditional sleigh and painted hot rod red. Hay had been lain across the frozen ground and the stalls were currently occupied by eight reindeer, each of them snorting and stomping their feet in agitation.

"Hey, guys," the young man said with a calm, friendly voice as he walked over to the stalls, "Hey, it's alright, it's just me. It's Jack."

The reindeer payed the young man, Jack, no notice though, continuing to move about in agitation until one of them threw its shoulder against the door of its pen, trying to break its way through.

"Easy, Blitzen, easy!" Jack said with a worried tone as he ran over to the reindeer and tried to calm it, but Blitzen ignored him, slamming against the door again, which smashed open with the loud crack of splintering wood. Stumbling for a moment, Blitzen quickly regained its footing before it went bounding through a doorway that led out of the room, disappearing around a corner.

Jack watched the reindeer disappear with confusion written upon his face. Glancing over his shoulder at the other reindeer, he saw they were still agitated as well, though none of them were attempting to escape from their pens like Blitzen had.

"What's going on?" Jack questioned, "What's gotten into you guys?"

Turning his attention towards the door that led out of the stables, Jack walked hesitantly towards it. Reaching the door, Jack stuck his head through, trying to see what he could. The hallway beyond was dark, the lanterns set along its wooden walls cold, a sight which immediately set off warning bells in Jack's head.

"North?" Jack called out into the darkness, "North, are you there?"

The echos of Jack's voice were all that answered him, followed by deafening silence.

Concern written on his features, Jack began making his way down the hall, his staff held out before him like a spear. His bare feet padding across the wooden floor, Jack continued down the hallway, finding absolutely no one as he went, the darkness and silence all consuming. As he walked, Jack gripped his staff tighter, which seemed to cause the crooked end to become covered in frost

Reaching the end of the hall, Jack found himself standing in a doorway, looking into the darkness of the room beyond.

"Hello?" Jack called cautiously, "Is there anyone there?"

Silence replied again, which only served to heighten the tension Jack was already feeling. Cautiously, Jack stepped through the doorway and almost jumped out of his skin as something suddenly grabbed his arm.

Letting out a panicked yelp, Jack whirled around to face what had grabbed him, swinging his staff as he did. There was a dull thwack as the staff connected with something, followed by a dull groan of pain as the young man felt the grip on his arm slacken.

Breathing quickly, Jack pointed his staff at where he thought the thing that had grabbed him, the dim blue light coming from the crooked end illuminating it. It was some kind of humanoid creature with a burly build. The creature looked like it would have stood at least seven feet tall were it not slouching against the wall and floor and was covered from head to toe in shaggy, chestnut brown hair. A thick patch of hair that resembled a bushy mustache covered the creature's mouth and it looked at the young man with beady, brown eyes that had a glassy sheen that told him the creature was barely holding on to consciousness.

"Phil!?" Jack questioned in surprise as he leaned down, placing his hands on the creature as he tried to steady it, "Oh man, Phil, I'm so sor-"

Jack cut himself off as he touched Phil's side, only to find something wet and sticky there. Pulling it back, Jack's eyes widened in surprise as he found blood.

"Phil, you're hurt," Jack observed as he looked at the creature with confusion and concern, "What happened?"

Phil mumbled something incoherent as he lifted one of his arms and pointed at something behind Jack. His brow furrowing, Jack turned and looked in the direction that Phil had pointed but could make out nothing in the inky darkness. Stepping forward, Jack raised his staff above his head, the pale blue glow it gave off glowing brighter.

What Jack saw chilled him to the bone.

The room he was in was a large, multistoried one, a large gap at the center opening the room from ceiling to floor with a massive globe slowly rotating within it. The room was clearly a workshop, each floor housing tables scattered with tools and half-finished toys. The young man could spot a number of creatures just like Phil scattered around the room as well, some nursing wounds much like Phil's, others laying completely still. But it was what was hanging at the center of the room that caught the young man's attention.

A man that looked like he was somewhere in his late middle ages was hanging in the center of the room, suspended by chains that had been wrapped around his arms, holding him aloft with his hands stretched above his head directly above the area marking the North Pole on the map. He was a large man, with a power build that was on display due to him lacking any sort of covering above his waist. Jack noted that most of the man's skin was covered in tattoos of various shades and designs. The ones on his chest were obscured by his long white beard while the ones on his back were similarly hidden by the blood oozing out of the long, deep cuts on his back.

"North!" Jack gasped after he managed to recover from his shock, "North, I-"

Jack paused as the other man, North, began to rotate on the chains, giving him a better look at the older man's back. The cuts ran the complete length of North's back, and as he got a better look at them, Jack realized they spelled out the word "Naughty."

"Oh God, North," Jack whispered to himself, "Who did this to you?"

 _Later_ ,

"I don't like this," the giant, anthropomorphic rabbit said, his voice thick with an Australian accent. He stood on his hind legs, towering over six feet in height with a lean build and grey fur that was decorated with patches of darker fur that resembled tattoos. The only piece of clothing he wore was a leather bandolier strapped diagonally across his chest, holding a collection of boomerangs and colored eggs. His green eyes were full of worry as he looked down at North laying against his stomach on a large bed, his back heavily bandaged.

"None of us like it, Bunny," the one female in the room replied. She was a short, slim woman who's most noticeable feature was that both her head and body was completely covered in feathers with colors that resembled those of a hummingbird, the ones growing from her scalp giving her a spiked hairdo. A pair of wings similar in design to those of a dragonfly's grew out of her back, though they were hard to get a view of as they fluttered at a blurring speed, keeping the woman suspended a few feet off of the floor.

"The important thing is we figure out who did this, Tooth" Jack spoke up from where he stood leaning against one of the wooden walls, "Do we have any ideas. The list of who could pull this off must be pretty short."

Bunny and Tooth shared an uncertain expression before looking to the side as the fifth person in the room as he waved his hands over his head for attention. He was a short man, only coming up to the young man's waist, his golden hair sticking out from his head in every direction. He had a pudgy physique and was clothed in a robe that seemed to be made out of golden sand. In fact, his whole body seemed to give off a warm, golden radiance.

"What is it, Sandy?" Tooth questioned.

As she and the others looked over at Sandy, they all immediately noted the grim expression on his face. As they watched, Sandy lifted his hands above his head, causing some of the sand that made up his form to break away and float up into the air. Quickly, the sand coalesced above his head, forming a wheel with eight spokes, a symbol floating above each spoke. The image meant nothing to Jack, but as he glanced at Bunny and Tooth, he noticed them suddenly stiffen.

"No," Bunny stated, his voice a low, dangerous whisper, "It's not him."

Sandy narrowed his eyes and gestured towards North lying in the bed.

"Sandy, it can't be him," Tooth stated, sounding almost like she was trying to convince herself more than Sandy.

Again, Sandy glared at the others while forcibly gesturing at North.

"Alright, what are you guys talking about?" Jack questioned, pushing off from the wall and walking over to the others while quirking an eyebrow at them.

"Nothing," Bunny snapped as he glanced over his shoulder at Jack, "It doesn't matter anyway, because it's not him!"

"Except it is being him, my friend," a rumbling voice thick with a Russian accent came in reply as North began to stir.

"North, you shouldn't be moving in your condition," Tooth stated as she flitted over to the large man's side and hovered over him anxiously.

"I am being-" North began to say before he cut himself off with a hiss of pain as he tried to sit up, "...fine."

"You're not fine, mate," Bunny stated, putting a hand against North's shoulder and gently pushing him back against the bed, "You're starting to talk crazy."

"I'm not crazy," North snarled, glaring up at Bunny, "I know what I saw. It was him."

"Who?" Jack demanded, irritation clear in his voice, "Who is this guy you keep talking about?"

"His name…." North said solemnly, pausing to prop himself up on his elbows so he could better look at Jack, "is Krampus."

There was a pause as North let the words sink in before Jack furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Who the hell is Krampus?" Jack asked in confusion.

"Bad news," Bunny stated, "The worst kind of news. He's one of the Guardians of Sabbat."

"Who are the Guardians of the Sabbat?" Jack questioned.

"Before we were the Guardians, before we were chosen by the Man in the Moon, there were….other forces," Tooth explained, a worried look on her face, "Back in those times, people followed the old ways, the Sabbat. It was a darker time, a time full of fear and pain and the Sabbat reflected that."

"So, they're bad guys?" Jack inquired.

"Not exactly," Bunny replied, "Times were cruel back then and the Old Guardians were a reflection of that time."

"So, what happened to them?" Jack questioned as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"When we were chosen, originally, it was to oppose them," North explained, "Manny chose us to bring hope and joy to the world and to do so, we had to defeat the Old Guardians."

"Well, I'm guessing that you did," Jack observed with wry grin, "Otherwise, you wouldn't be here to tell me about it."

"True enough," Tooth agreed with a chuckle, "Using some old, powerful magic, we were able seal them away forever."

"Or so we thought," North added, "Manny warned us that the seals could weaken over time. We should have seen this coming."

"How could we have?" Jack questioned.

"Because we just fought one of them not long ago," Bunny grumbled.

"What are you…." Jack began to question in confusion before a look of realization crossed his face, "Pitch Black."

"Exactly," North stated with a dark chuckle that abruptly turned into a cough of pain.

"Why didn't you guys say anything before?" Jack questioned as he looked around at the others.

"Because not even he remembered," Tooth explained, a distant look on her face.

"What do you mean?" Jack inquired with confusion.

"You know how these things work, Jack," Tooth replied, "People like us, like Pitch, our strength comes from people's belief in us. In order to take the Old Guardians' power away, we….we…."

"We erased them," Bunny finished for her.

"What do you mean you erased them?" Jack questioned, his brow furrowing.

"We….I made people forget who they were," Tooth explained, a worried look on her face, "I altered everyone's memories of the Sabbat and, in doing so…."

"You made everyone stop believing in them," Jack finished for her, his face an emotionless mask.

"Please, Jack, you have to understand, it was the only way," Tooth pleaded, "In the same way that we had to make people not be afraid of Pitch anymore."

"I guess," Jack relented, "It explains why Pitch was gunning for you guys so hard."

"Actually, it doesn't," Tooth replied, another worried expression on her face.

"Why not?" Jack inquired, arching an eyebrow at Tooth.

"Because, when I said I altered everyone's memories, I meant them as well," Tooth explained, her features anxious.

"You….erased their memories?" Jack questioned in shock.

"It was the only way, mate," Bunny spoke up, "If they remembered who they were they would stop at nothing to get their power back."

"And without their memories, they would stop at nothing to get them back," Jack argued, his voice rising alongside his temper, "You turned them into me!"

"What?" Bunny asked in genuine confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how you put them in the same hell that I spent three hundred years trapped in!" Jack snarled, "Not knowing who I was. Not being able to talk or even touch other people."

"Jack, please, you have to-" North began to say, but the young man silenced him with a glare.

"Am I one?" Jack questioned.

"What?" Bunny questioned in confusion.

"Am I one of these Guardians of the Sabbat?" Jack questioned.

"What are you talking about, Jack?" Tooth asked in shock, "You know who you are."

"Do I?" Jack asked, "I learned who I was from something you gave me and you just told me how good you are at altering people's memories."

"Jack," Tooth pleaded, her expression heartbroken, "I….I would never do that."

"Forget it," Jack said with a shake of his head before looking at North, "So, Pitch didn't know who he was. Why does this Krampus guy know?"

"Someone must have told him," North answered, "The same person who freed him."

"Who would that be?" Jack questioned.

"Who do you think?" Bunny inquired in return, arching an eyebrow at the young man.

"You think Pitch is behind this?" Jack asked in surprise, "But we beat him."

"It's not like we saw a body," Bunny replied, "And if he got his memories back, it wouldn't be too hard for him to track down another one of the Old Guardians."

"What I don't get is if Pitch was one of these Old Guardians, how did he get loose in the first place?" Jack inquired.

"I am thinking I might be knowing," North answered as he started rising from his bed again, "But it is not being important at the moment."

"You're right," Tooth agreed as she gently pushed North back to the bed, "What's important is that you get your rest."

"There is being no time," North replied as he struggled weakly against Tooth, "We have to-"

North was interrupted when one of the yetis came running into the room, it's eyes wide. The group turned to look at the yeti as it grumbled something while pointing back the way he had come.

"What's he saying?" Bunny questioned as he glanced back at North.

"He's saying…." North paused as he grunted in pain again, "He's saying that Man in Moon is trying to contact us."

"Well, I think we know what he wants to talk about," Jack commented.

"We have to go see what he wants," North stated as he began to rise from his bed once more, only for both Bunny and Tooth to push him back against the mattress.

"You're right, we'll go see what Manny wants, mate," Bunny stated with a nod.

"You stay here and rest," Tooth added.

North made a weak noise of protest but made no further attempt to get up as the rest of the group left the room and made their way through the complex to the large room that Jack had found North. Any damage that had been done had already been cleared away and Jack noted that one of the yeti's was busy scrubbing what looked like blood out of the floor.

Tearing his eyes away from the scene and turned them towards the massive globe at the center of the room. As he looked at the globe, Jack saw a beam of silvery moonlight coming through a skylight in the ceiling above, cast by the pale, full moon hanging in the starry sky beyond. It landed on the top floor of the room directly in front of the globe, settling on a stone panel that had been set into the wooden floor. As Jack and the others approached, the panel slid aside with the grinding of stone against stone, before a light blue crystal set on a pedestal rose out of the floor. While Jack watched, the moonlight collected in the crystal, which refracted into a projection that slowly began to form into an image in the air before them.

"What's happening?" Jack questioned, glancing at Tooth as they watched the image form.

"The Man in the Moon is choosing a new Guardian," Tooth replied.

"Already?" Jack asked as he blinked in surprise while turning his attention back to the forming image, "It feels like he just chose me."

"And with good reason," Bunny stated, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the image, "It's only because of you that we took down Pitch. I'm guessing we're going to need all the help we can get to beat Krampus."

The group fell silent as the image coalesced into something recognizable. It depicted a tall figure, though an oddly proportioned one, his arms and legs so long and spindly they reminded Jack of a spider's limbs. He was dressed in a black suit that looked roughly a century out of fashion, complete with an extravagantly large bow tie that resembled a bat in flight. The thing that caught Jack's attention though was the fact the figure was clearly a skeleton, his head nothing more than a bleached white skull.

"Is that…." Bunny questioned as he squinted his eyes at the image.

Sandy pointed above his head where his sand coalesced into the image of a grinning jack-o'-lantern.

"Yep, thought so," Bunny agreed with a nod and a sigh.

"Oh boy," Tooth commented with a nervous expression, "North is not going to like this."

"Okay, I'm lost," Jack said as he looked around at his friends, "Who is this guy?"

"Allow me to do the introductions then," Bunny said as he stepped forward and gestured towards the image, "Jack Frost, meet Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, Spirit of Halloween, and the only bloke crazy enough to try and hijack Christmas."

A/N: Yep, another new story! This idea has been playing around in my head for awhile and finally coalesced into a real story this past Christmas. I hope you guys enjoy it! As always, feedback and critiques are always welcome, so please review! Later!


	2. Reintroductions

**Chapter 2: Reintroductions**

"No!" North barked from his bed as he glared at Jack, Bunny, Tooth and Sandy, "No! _Net!_ Absolutely not!"

"Come on, North," Tooth began to argue with a sigh.

"I said no!" North snapped, cutting Tooth off, "There is being no way that I am working with Jack Skellington!"

"He can't be that bad," Bunny said with a smirk and a shake of his head, "Look, I didn't care for Frost when we first started working with him either, and trust me, he's still something of a wanker, but I think it worked out pretty well."

"Gee, thanks," Jack said with a roll of his eyes, "I didn't know you cared so much."

"You are not understanding," North argued, "Jack is not being Jack."

There was a quiet pause as the other four Guardians glanced at one another while trying to digest what North had said.

"Can you run that by us again?" Jack requested after a moment.

"Jack Skellington is not being like you," North explained, looking directly at Jack as he spoke, "He is reckless and dangerous."

"Sounds a lot like me actually," Jack commented with a smirk and a shrug.

"He's not, he's…." North paused to growl in frustration, "I do not want him on this team. I am forbiding it."

"Last time I checked, North, that wasn't your call to make," Tooth observed as she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the man, "We need help, now more than ever if what we think is happening is actually happening. So, the way I see it, you're just going to have to put aside your grudge and suck it up!"

There was a long awkward moment as North and Tooth glared at each other while Bunny, Jack and Sandy glanced at one another nervously.

"Fine," North finally relented, "You are wanting Jack Skellington to be on team so badly, you can go get him yourselves."

"Fine," Tooth agreed hotly, "I think we will."

Turning away from North, Tooth began buzzing towards the door, glaring at everything and nothing as she went.

"Come on, guys," Tooth said to the other Guardians, "Let's let North rest. We've got a job to do."

With that, she left the room, leaving the other three to watch her go. Slowly, they turned their attention back towards North, but the man had turned away from them, only allowing them to see his heavily scarred back. Turning their attentions towards one another, the three Guardians weren't able to do anything but sigh and shrug their shoulders before leaving the room to follow Tooth.

"Okay," Jack spoke up after they had traveled a short distance from North's room, "So, does anyone want to explain this whole situation to me? Why's there so much bad blood between North and this Jack Skellington guy?"

"There's not," Tooth answered with a sigh, "At least, I doubt that Jack sees North as anything but a friend."

"Okay, then why does North hate him so much?" Jack asked.

"Because he stole Christmas," Bunny explained.

"Excuse me?" Jack questioned with bemusement, "He stole Christmas? You're sure North didn't just read the wrong Dr. Seuss book?"

"Stole is the wrong word," Tooth interjected, "Hijacked would be more appropriate."

"Okay, I think I'm going to need a little elaboration here," Jack said as they continued down the hall, "Who exactly is this Jack Skellington guy?"

"Jack Skellington is essentially the spirit of Halloween," Bunny explained as Sandy formed an image of a jack-o-lantern with his sand, "There are a bunch of ghosts and ghoulies who work with him, but he's the top dog."

"Halloween?" Jack questioned, his expression turning concerned, "Sounds like something up Pitch's alley."

"It's not like that," Tooth stated, "He's not about fear like Pitch is. He's all about the fun side of Halloween. Dressing up in costumes, trick-or-treating, scaring each other for fun. Stuff like that."

"That sounds like a pretty nice gig," Jack commented, "What would he want with Christmas?"

"Honestly, it sounds like one year he just got bored," Bunny stated with a shrug, "Somehow he caught wind of Christmas and decided to give it a go."

"Decided to give it a go?" Jack questioned, "How did he manage that?"

"He sent these three little buggers to kidnap him," Bunny grumbled earning a silent laugh from Sandy.

"You sound a little bitter about that," Jack observed.

"That's because they kidnapped him by mistake first," Tooth pointed out with a chuckle, "Jack had to make them bring him back."

Jack Frost could only laugh at that, making Bunny even more cross.

"So, what happened with Jack's Christmas?" he asked after he regained his composure.

"It was a disaster," Bunny answered as Sandy formed a hand doing a thumbs down motion with his sand, "The bloke understood the concept, but he didn't quite manage the execution."

"How so?" Jack inquired.

"His gifts had a macabre flavor to them," Tooth explained, "Shrunken heads, tarantulas, dolls that walked and talked without batteries in them. Not exactly gifts you'd want to open on Christmas Day."

"I'm guessing people didn't take that well," Jack observed.

"Hardly," Bunny confirmed with a snort, "There was a mass panic. The frickin' United States Army got involved and shot him down."

"Seriously?" Jack questioned, clearly shocked, "They could see him?"

"Yeah," Tooth answered with a nod, "I don't think people normally can, but I think that he was essentially hijacking North's holiday, it let people see him for a time. Not that it worked to his advantage."

"What happened after that?" Jack asked.

"Jack realized his mistake and went back to get North and fix everything," Bunny explained, "The problem was that North had ended up in the clutches of a real creep named Oogie Boogie."

"Oogie Boogie?" Jack repeated with a snort.

"If I'm lying I'm dying," Bunny replied with a smirk.

"Silly name or not, he still almost killed North until Jack killed him instead," Tooth added, "North had enough time to fix what Jack had broken and the two went their separate ways. As far as I know, North hasn't talked to him since."

By that point, the four Guardians had reached the reindeer stables and stood in front of the tunnel leading out of North's mountain.

"Well, I think I have one more question," Jack stated, his face turning solemn, "More of an observation really."

"Lay it on us, mate," Bunny replied as the four of them stood at the mouth of the cave.

"This Oogie Boogie," Jack started as he crossed his arms, "He was Pitch, wasn't he?"

The three other Guardians shared looks before turning their attentions back towards Jack.

"Smart little bugger, aren't you?" Bunny asked.

"Maybe," Jack replied with a shrug, "Don't you think it was a little on the nose by hiding someone like Pitch in a place all about Halloween?"

"I can erase a person's memories but I can't change who a person is, deep down," Tooth explained, "After all, you were basically the same person when you didn't have your memories as you were after you regained them."

"But I'm guessing you didn't warn Jack about him," Jack observed.

The other three Guardians shared an uneasy glance.

"It was like we told you before, mate," Bunny explained, "We had to let as few people as possible know about him."

"Well," Jack commented as the four of them began to make their way up the tunnel leading out of the mountain, "I'm glad to see that didn't come back to bite you guys in the ass somehow."

 _Later,_

A full moon hung in the night sky, casting its pale glow across the dark forest that sat below, the skeletal trees casting long shadows across the barren ground.

One tree stood out in particular, partially due to the fact that it was larger than many of the others, though this was mitigated due to the equally large treehouse it supported, the weight of the structure bending the trunk and causing its branches to sag visibly. The treehouse was made up of three rickety structures connected to one another with rope bridges and rotten walkways. A metal tube ran from one of the buildings down into the ground beneath the roots of the tree. The tree itself sat on a small outcropping of earth surrounded by a deep, empty moat on all sides with a single rope bridge allowing passage across, while a crude, rope elevator appeared to be the only way up into the treehouse itself.

Inside, the treehouse appeared just as dismal as the outside did, with gaps in the floorboards and walls allowing light to filter in from outside and a draft to blow through the structure. In one of the rooms, a small furnace had been built into the wall, hot coals smoldering inside. A small pine tree, its branches withered and its needles turning black, sat in a corner, wrapped in orange streamers and decorated with paper-mache bats and pumpkins, a crudely carved jack-o-lantern sitting on top.

Gathered around the tree was a group of three of children who were hungrily eyeing the handful of badly wrapped presents under the tree. One was a pale, skinny boy with yellow eyes dressed in a long-sleeved, red t-shirt with a pair of matching pants. His feet were covered in dark red shoes and his red hair was done in a way that it resembled two curling horns. A red, spaded tail had been attached to the seat of his pants and a grinning demonic mask sat to the side.

Next to him sat a shorter and plumper boy with pale features, sunken eyes and a far too large of a mouth. He wore a black bodysuit, on the front of which was the depiction of a skeleton, the bones drawn on the bodysuit matching up with the placement of his own skeleton. Sitting to his side was a grinning skull mask.

The third child was the only girl of the group. She possessed gaunt features with a pointed, prominent nose and greyish skin. Her eyes were black on yellow and her stringy black hair that stuck out from underneath her tall, purple, witch's hat. She wore a purple dress that hung down to her knees along with black stockings and black boots on her feet. A mask depicting a frowning, green-faced witch sat on the floor beside her.

"Oooo," the boy in the skeleton costume groaned as he practically shook with excitement, "Can I open one, Shock, please!?"

"No!" the girl, Shock, answered loudly while hitting the boy on the back of his head, "You have to wait until Christmas Day, Barrel! Those are the rules!"

"Who cares about the rules!" the other boy whined, "They're right there, why don't we just open them!?"

"Because, it's against the rules, Lock!" Shock replied while smacking him on the back of the head as well, "If we break the rules, then Sandy Claws will put us on his naughty list and we won't get any presents from him!"

"Uh, aren't we already on his naughty list?" Barrel questioned in confusion, "We did kidnap him that one time."

"I'm sure he's forgotten all about that," Shock reassured him, "Sandy Claws is a very forgiving person."

A dubious expression crossed Barrel's features, but he said nothing.

"Forget that!" Lock exclaimed suddenly as he grabbed one of the presents and dragged it over to himself, "I'm opening mine now, and you can't stop me!"

"Lock, no!" Shock exclaimed as she moved to stop him, but didn't have time before the boy grabbed one of the brightly colored packages and began tearing it open.

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" Lock shouted eagerly as he tossed the shredded wrapping paper around him and ripped the box open, "What did I-"

There was a pause as Lock looked into the box, confusion written clear on his face. After a moment he overturned the box, causing three lumps of coal to come tumbling out, leaving trails of soot as the rolled across the floor.

"Okay, what's the big idea!?" Lock demanded as he rounded on the others, glaring at them while he tossed the now empty box away, "Why'd I get coal for Christmas!?"

"If I understand correctly," a new voice suddenly said, causing all three of them to jump and let out shrieks of surprise, "It's given to little girls and boys who have been especially naughty that year."

Spinning around, the trio looked towards a darkened corner of the room where the wispy, almost hollow sounding voice emanated from. As they did, they could just make out a tall, lean figure standing there, almost completely enveloped by the shadows.

"W-Who are you!" Shock demanded as the three quickly crowded together.

"What?" the figure questioned, "You don't remember me, my old friends?"

"N-No," Lock admitted nervously, "Sh-Should we?"

"After all our time together, I would have thought you remembered me," the figure said with a sigh, "We were neighbors even."

"Neighbors?" Barrel questioned in confusion, "We….We don't have any neighbors."

"Oh, but you did," the figure replied as he began to approach, his voice suddenly shifting as he continued talking, growing deeper and more jovial, " _When Mr. Oogie Boogie says there's trouble close at hand, you'd better pay attention now 'cause I'm the Boogie Man_."

"...Oogie?" Shock questioned, clearly stunned, "Is that you, Oogie?"

"In the flesh," the figure replied, its voice returning to what it had been a moment before as it stepped forward, entering the shaft of moonlight coming through one of the windows, "So to speak."

As the figure stepped into view, the trio could see that he was a tall, slim man dressed in a long black coat, the edges of which seemed to dissipate into a smokey substance. His hands were pallid and almost skeletal in appearance with long spindly fingers. What caught all their attentions though was the mask he wore. It was incredibly crude in appearance, looking as though it had been made out of a burlap sack that had grown dirty and threadbare. A line of stitches stretched across the lower portion of the mask, functioning as a mouth, while two, mismatched buttons sewn onto the bag served as eyes.

"...You don't look like Oogie," Barrel commented.

"I've gone through some changes," the figure explained, the mask not moving as it spoke.

"But….how?" Lock questioned, "We thought Jack killed you."

"He did," the figure answered, "And in the process, I was reborn. Released from a prison I had been unaware I had been trapped in. But even then, I wasn't what I was meant to be."

"I-I don't understand," Shock stated as she glanced at the others in confusion.

"No," the figure replied with a sigh, "I suppose you wouldn't. But that matters little I suppose. What matters is I am the being you once called Oogie Boogie and I've come to call on you again."

"W-What do you want with us?" Barrel questioned.

"Your aid, of course," the figure replied, "To free me and my brethren."

"Your brethren?" Shock asked.

"I don't even know what that word means," Lock muttered.

"The Guardians of the Sabbat," the figure explained, "The ones who watched over this world before we were disposed by a group of pretenders."

"Pretenders?" Lock questioned in confusion.

"The so called Guardians of Childhood," the figure practically spat.

"What do you guys plan to do?" Shock inquired.

"Simple," the figure replied in a way that made shivers run down the trio's spines, "We're going to kill them."

"How are we supposed to help you with that?" Lock inquired, "W-We're not killers."

"No, I suppose you are not," the figure relented, "Luckily, that is not what we require you for."

"S-So, you came here just to find us?" Barrel inquired.

"Not just for you," the figure admitted, "My brother and I also wished to visit good old Jack."

"Y-Your brother?" Shock questioned.

A moment after the words left Shock's mouth, a loud creak came from above them, followed by a quick series of heavy thuds that sounded like footsteps.

"He's here," the figure observed as he and the trio turned their gazes toward the ceiling.

"Sandy Claws?" Lock questioned.

"No," the figure replied with a shake of his head, "I'm afraid that Saint Nicholas will not be joining us this evening."

"Who is that then?" Shock inquired as the footsteps drew closer to where the furnace's stovepipe exited through the roof.

" _Up on the housetop, click, click, click_ ," the figure sang in a minor, haunting key, his voice like the wind blowing through the branches of a dead tree. As he sang, there was a loud clanging noise from the roof. A moment later, the stovepipe suddenly bulged, as if something had been stuffed into it and the metal was straining to contain the offending object. As the trio watched with wide, terrified eyes, the bulge moved downward, following the path of the stovepipe towards the furnace.

" _Down through the chimney with_ -" the figure continued before he was interrupted as the bulge reached the furnace, the door to which exploded outward as flames surged out into the open air. The trio jumped back instinctively, the room bathed in hellish red light and long, dancing shadows. The flames retreated after a moment, but the fire continued to burn hot and bright from within the furnace.

A moment later, to the trio's astonishment, another figure stepped out of the furnace. He was a massive figure, so much so that it was daunting to the trio that he simply stepped out of their small furnace. He wore a long, dirty red robe trimmed in white fur, which obscured most of his features. From what the trio could see, the creature was largely covered in coarse, black fur except for on his hands and face, the flesh of which was grey in color. A pair of cloven hooves stuck out from beneath the robe and a pair of curved horns rose from beneath the folds of the drawn hood. The trio were able to make out that the creature had a snarling mouth full of sharp teeth and its eyes were yellow with square irises like those of a goat. A heavy iron chain was wrapped around the creature's hunched form, ending in a rusted meathook that it clutched in its clawed right hand. It's left hand was supporting a giant brown sac that it had slung over its shoulder, bulges in which appeared to be moving.

As the trio stared up at the creature in horror, it lifted its head and took a long sniff of the air.

"I smell naughty children," the creature growled, its voice like rocks scraping together, its words thick with a Scandinavian accent.

Slowly, the creature's goat eyes fell on the trio and it took another deep sniff of the air, causing the children to shiver in fear. Placing his sack on the ground, the creature smiled at the trio.

"I love naughty children," the creature stated as it reached for the trio, drool dripping from its mouth.

"Enough," the figure stated, catching the creatures attention and stopping it just as one of its clawed hands was about to touch Shock, "Let the children be."

"But, brother," the creature whined, "I hunger."

"You'll have plenty of time to eat later," the figure argued as he nodded at the trio, "We need them."

"Bah," the creature scoffed as it pulled away from the trio, "They are as good as any other group of children."

"True, but they're mine," the figure said sternly.

"Fine," the creature relented with a sigh as it looked away from the trio, "You were never good at sharing."

"W-What i-i-is th-that th-th-thing?" Shock questioned, her voice almost failing her.

"That would be my brother," the figure explained before gesturing towards the creature with one of its wispy hands, "Let me introduce you to Krampus, one of my fellow Guardians."

"You've got some weird relatives, Oogie," Lock observed nervously.

"Oogie?" Krampus commented with a snort of amusement, turning his gaze towards the figure, "Is that what they called you?"

"Once upon a time," the figure admitted, "But no longer."

"What should we call you then?" Barrel questioned as he looked up at the figure looming over them.

"You can call me by my true name," the figure answered, "You can call me by what I really am. You can call me Samhain."

A/N: So the first chapter of this story got a lot more positive feedback then I was expecting. Thank you all so much for your encouragement and sorry that it took so long for me to write this chapter. I hope you all like this one as well. As always, feedback and critiques are always welcome, so please review! Later!


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